(July 28, 2013 at 6:45 pm)popeyespappy Wrote:Exactly. School isn't about fun. Believe it or not. School is about learning how to function in a world that requires structure and productivity. I'm not in favour of home schooling, kids are too sheltered, I feel. There's a danger in being over-protective, schools aren't perfect, but the world isn't either. In school you deal with friends, bullies, funny people, mean people, friendly people, different people. You even have crappy teachers who resemble your future crappy bosses. School is a lot more than just gaining knowledge, it's about understanding how life works.(July 28, 2013 at 6:20 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Oddly, though, people had no trouble learning before under such a system.
This.
If you want to see a prime example of a structured school system carry your ass to South Korea or Japan and check out their primary schools. The children there don't seem to have a lot of trouble learning in a structured environment.
As far as home schooling goes the families that would have the most difficultly home schooling their children are the same families who's children do poorly in the public school system. How is that going to help?
School is about responsibility. It's not meant to take over your life, you can have fun outside of school. But it's a responsibility, and kids need to understand that, it's an important part of growing up.
I grew up in asian school system, between ages 7 to 12 I spent 3 hours on homework per school day. It was the best time of my life, the friends I made then are still my best friends today, I learned to stand up to people (including teachers, which got me into trouble), I learned to do my work even when I'm upset, I learned what is expected of me as a person. During exam seasons we would get as many as 3 exams in a single day, and even as a kid I would pull all-nighters to prepare for exams and projects, I remember many nights where I would be the only one awake and studying. To this day I can pull all-nighters like nobody's business, while my friends go to bed and do a sloppy job on their assignments. I have never considered sacrificing my assignment for sleep, however minor it is. The subjects I hated and thought was useless, I did it anyway, because I understood if I did not I wouldn't get into the school of my choice. Did they turn out to be useless? In terms of content, yes. But they got me into the school I wanted, and that's all that mattered to me. The subjects I liked I would pursue on my own free time. These are valuable lessons in life, I wouldn't trade those years for anything else. And I continued on in an asian school system until I was 16.
I mean, should we talk about what is useless to teach and what isn't? Sure. But there's also a danger in allowing kids to pick what they don't want to learn too soon. I know friends who opted out of the chinese language classes when we were kids simply because they weren't good at it and their parents couldn't help them with it, and they hated it. Now they regret it but it'll take them so much longer to master the language, and time is so much harder to come by in your 20s.
